Principal tells why she moved plans to Port

Apr 18 2008 by David Holmes, Chester Chronicle

Principal tells why she moved plans to Port

WEST Cheshire College principal Sara Mogel says Chester’s failure to back plans for a new city centre campus is the reason why she turned to Ellesmere Port.

Last week, a massive extension of the college’s Ellesmere Port site was approved which will be three times as big as the new Handbridge technology campus which received permission a week earlier.

Originally the intention was for the college’s headquarters to be located next to Northgate Village in Chester but opposition in the community was translated into planning being refused by Chester City Council.

Mrs Mogel, who is finalising funding for the £70m project, said the isolated nature of the Handbridge site meant Ellesmere Port was more suitable for course areas in the creative and service industries where customer contact is essential.

Speaking in Handbridge, she said: “We cannot run the majority of our provision from this site, that’s the bottom line. We tried to find another site, we tried very hard but we didn’t get permission.

“There was a ground-swell of opinion that didn’t want a college in the city.”

Mrs Mogel, whose main office will be in Ellesmere Port, is now seeking funding confirmation from the Learning and Skills Council which has promised to provide about 80% of costs with the college asked to find the balance by selling its moth-balled former catering college – the Greenbank centre – “as it stands” and borrowing the rest.

Due to changes in course funding, there is likely to be a drop in adult student numbers and a greater emphasis on providing training for 14-19-year-olds.

Demolition and building work is expected to begin next February with the Chester campus opening in 2010 and Ellesmere Port in 2011.

The provision of a new Chester campus cannot come soon enough for Mrs Mogel who says the 1948 school-style building is uninviting and unsuitable for modern learning and will eventually “fall down” because it wasn’t designed to last that long.